For perhaps the first time in its history, the state legislature held a hearing Monday about earthquakes. But we’re not talking about natural tremors, we’re talking about man-made earthquakes. Texas has seen quakes measuring 3.0 and higher increase tenfold since an oil and gas drilling boom began several years ago, with the first quake swarm […]
These can be shaky times for Texas. The number of recorded earthquakes (most larger than 3.0) has increased tenfold since a drilling boom began several years ago. The Lone Star State is now one of the shakiest in the country, coming in sixth in the continuous U.S. for having larger quakes last year, according to EnergyWire. […]
Photos by Landov Tomorrow is primary day in Texas, and in the race for the open seat on the Railroad Commission, the state’s oil and gas regulator, you might be curious to know where exactly the candidates stand on the issues. Those issues include swarms of earthquakes linked to oil and gas drilling activity; property […]
Scientists have known that man can create earthquakes by injecting fluids into the ground for decades. But if you listen to the people campaigning to regulate the Texas oil and gas industry, you may think the idea was in serious dispute. Every Republican party candidate this primary season for the Railroad Commission denies that there […]
Another earthquake swarm has been shaking towns in the Dallas-Fort Worth area over the last few months, with over thirty quakes measured since the beginning of November. Residents are shaken up, regulators have no answers, and no one is sure what comes next. The likely culprit behind the quakes isn’t fracking, but rather a byproduct […]
The mayor of one of the small towns at the center of Texas’ latest earthquake swarm traveled to Austin last week to speak to oil and gas regulators. While Lynda Stokes, the mayor of Reno, Texas, didn’t get any answers from the Railroad Commission of Texas (which oversees drilling in the state), she did get […]
Dozens of residents and local officials from the towns of Azle, Reno and Springtown outside of Fort Worth bused down to Austin Tuesday to speak before state regulators about a swarm of recent earthquakes believed to be tied to the oil and gas industry. They had plenty of questions for the Railroad Commission, the state’s […]
Just 10 days after a contentious public hearing with state officials, residents in Reno and Azle gathered Monday night to try and make sense of the swarm of earthquakes that keep rocking their part of North Texas. The latest quake hit just hours before the public meeting. Several hundred people listened to a panel of speakers that […]
View Earthquakes Near Azle, Texas in a larger map Map created by Andrew Weber for KUT News and StateImpact Texas. Orange circles represent earthquakes, wavy blue lines represent active wastewater disposal wells. Another minor earthquake shook the North Texas community of Azle on Monday. It’s one of dozens to hit the region over the last […]
Last week we reported from the Texas town of Azle, where a swarm of low-intensity earthquakes has frightened townspeople, damaged property, and put state regulators on the defensive. Azle had never experienced earthquakes like this before the arrival of waste water disposal wells, related to oil and gas drilling. Science has shown how those wells […]
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